It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Branagh's ambitious past-life thriller is very much a product of its time, and seen today it feels rather dated: there are cheesy haircuts and outfits galore. Plus, the viewer never really believes Branagh's American accent, which remains distracting throughout the movie. Yet DEAD AGAIN succeeds where other movies fail: it feels original for the most part, and it possesses enough inventiveness on the part of Branagh the director to make it a fairly engaging viewing experience. The film has many overblown moments where good ol' Ken emulates Hitchcock and the like, especially in the use of some silly slow-motion towards the end. But the black-and-white sequences set during the '40s are pretty good and, although fairly slow-paced, the film manages to retain the interest throughout.The casting is also pretty decent; Branagh and Thompson are here teamed up again, and both of them are required to act in many different styles. Derek Jacobi, another regular, is excellent as the stuttering hypnotist, and God, doesn't he look creepy without the beard? There are other stars too who make an impact, from Robin Williams' foul-mouthed supermarket worker (grimy and paranoid) to Wayne Knight (JURASSIC PARK) as Branagh's buddy. One rather odd thing is the last twenty minutes of the film, which finishes up the mystery and drama side of the story after offering a nice twist, and becomes standard psycho-thriller territory, along the lines of THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE and all the others that were popular at the time. The diverse range of elements and the passion put into this movie make it a standalone piece of cinema.

Dead Again (1991) has the feel of a Hitchcockian thriller and its supernatural-tinged romance more than echoes the master's own Vertigo. However, there's something about it that is just lacking. The acting is well done, though it does take a while to get used to Branagh's phony American accent (he sounds a lot like Raphael on the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon). The music is lovely and the other technical aspects are fine.It's the story itself. There are so many twists, which make DA ideal for the first viewing, but not so ideal for re-visitation. The character the private eye and his lady love wasn't captivating enough to keep one 100% invested.Good for one watch, but like a roller coaster ride, once is enough for this lifetime or the next.

This sounded like a really good movie for me. A mystery. Reincarnation mixed in. Three really fine actors. What could go wrong? Well, it depends on how one likes a film mystery to progress. There really are 2 styles -- setting out the basics of the mystery early on and then letting the viewer in on the resolution...OR...keep the viewer in the dark, allowing him to see just one clue at a time and then resolve the film in the last few minutes. I'm a fan of the former style, but this film is of the latter style. So it was not until almost 90 minutes into the film -- when we got the key clue -- that I really began to enjoy and appreciate this film. A better film would have sprinkled some of these clues earlier on in the film. And the ending is a humdinger! Kenneth Branagh is good here. Emma Thompson is really good. But, at least for me, Derek Jacobi (as a psychic) really steals the show! So for me, you've got a D film for the first hour, then an A film the last half hour. Comes out to a C (7).

Dead Again is one of the best films of the 1990s. It is a psychological thriller that will require your full attention. This includes the opening credits which provide critical background information. In the opening credits, you see old newspaper clippings from 1949 about the shocking death of pianist Margaret Strauss (Emma Thompson). Based on the clippings, we learn that Margaret's husband, conductor-composer Robert Strauss (Kenneth Branagh) claims a thief killed Margaret but he is later arrested for the crime after his fingerprints are found on a pair of scissors. Testimony from witnesses as well as his refusal to testify results in a guilty verdict and Strauss gets the death penalty. Most of the newspaper articles were written by Gray Baker (Andy Garcia) who visits Strauss at his request on the day of his execution. Strauss asks Baker to print that "He loved his wife and that he will love her forever" while getting his hair sheard with scissors by one of the guards. Baker asks Strauss why he is not afraid of death and Strauss states that he is not because things are "far from over". When Baker states, "But you still killed her, didn't you?", Strauss gets up and whispers something in his ear. Strauss is then escorted down the hallway to the death chamber. As Baker gets up to leave, he looks at the newspaper that was next to Strauss and notices the scissors that the guard had laid down are missing. We then see the scissors in Strauss's hand as Baker runs down the hallway yelling "stop" to Strauss. At the end of the hallway is a vision of Margaret Strauss and then we see Robert Strauss reach out and begin to stab her. We're instantly snapped forward into color (from black and white) and a modern day Emma Thompson awakes from her nightmare where she appears to live on the same property as where the Strauss' used to live. Now all of this happens during the first five minutes of the movie and if you're not hooked, then something's really wrong! The film goes back and forth between the past (always shown in black and white) and current day (shown in color). Suspicions abound as we piece together details from past lives and how they relate to the current characters. In doing so, we are left on the edge of our seats as new facts and twists are revealed.This is a "thinking person's movie" with a load of originality. If you like Hitchcock movies or you find films like the Matrix and Inception to be thrilling because of the twists and/or strong focus you must have while watching, you'll appreciate this film.